Trish Travels: Pearl Point to Mackillop Bridge

Day 1 - Pearl Point to Mackillop Bridge

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Very stressful morning of last minute packing up. Finally got on the move by midday. Heading up to the Bendoc pub, as it is in The Book. Lots of back burning going on, it feels a little disconcerting driving through a smoking forest, but there are lots of firemen on the road telling us the road is open.

After climbing over 1100m up winding gravel tracks we turned a corner, started to descend, HH said it wasn't far now when we came across a large obstacle. Even with HH's super dooper axe, we weren't going to get this big tree off the road, so it looked like we were going to have to retrace our tracks all the way back down again.

But, after several dead ends we found another track which brought us into Bendoc. The cold beer went down really well. Graham, the publican filled us in on some good camp spots so after a couple of pots we set off again. Still very hot.

Up to Delegate in NSW, where the road turned south again into Victoria and we followed the Deddick River. The track was very windy and narrow but most scenic. As it was so hot we just kept driving. At macKillops bridge we found a parking area with a small track leading down to the Snowy River". Surprisingly the water was warm, well compared to the ocean we had been parked next to for the last 6 weeks. So it was unresistable, as we hadn't seen another vehicle for the last couple of hours, the gear came off and in I went. Absolute heaven, nice clear water, running over sand and rocks, very refreshing. Must got out and heading back to my clothes when I startled a man and his dog! Where did he come from? Can almost guarantee, every time i skinny dip someone appears out of nowhere. Ha ha, not my problem. Unless we meet again wherever we camp tonight :)

Camp site not too far away, quite a large place, but nothing level. HH got very hot under the collar driving around for at least half an hour trying to get the camper on flat ground. Fortunately there was another good swimming spot and this time quite private.

Sat around in the dark waiting for it to cool down. Gave in at 9:30, it was still 32. Lay on top of the covers trying to remember how cold the ocean was at Pearl Pt. HH dropped off before me but I had to wake him as I was convinced someone was trying to break into the car. Think it was pigs. Later my turn to be woken, thinking I was beside a lighthouse. HH was flashing his torch around??? He had felt something fluttering over his face, we had a cute little bat in our cave. Still too hot to hide under any covers and I knew if it landed on me I might have heart failure so HH managed to pick it up and release it. Phew. The rest of the night was uneventful.

	No getting past this one [Map]		Bendoc Pub [Map]
	Snowy River [Map]		Batman' scavenger [Map]
	MacKillops Bridge [Map]		Snowy River Clean! [Map]
	Noisy nighttime diggers [Map]		Snowy Mts [Map]
	Windy roads [Map]